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A new study, conducted jointly by the University of Hong Kong and Indiana University, has found that Mississippi is the most corrupt U.S. state. Personally, given all the negative publicity, I would have expected Louisiana to top such a chart. Boy, would I have been wrong - Louisiana comes in at the far more prestigious second place!

According to Fortune, the researchers have examined more than 25,000 convictions of public officials for various violation of federal corruption laws between 1976 and 2008. The huge number means that data collected for the study include many small cases, which would not have been widely publicized.

As a result, the findings may come as a surprise to many people - some of the states in the top 10 do not necessarily have a reputation for being crooked. Moreover, states which do have a reputation for corruption, such as New Jersey and New York, do not even make the list. The researchers - Cheol Liu and John L. Mikesell - stated that:
"States with higher levels of corruption are likely to favor construction, salaries, borrowing, correction, and police protection at the expense of social sectors such as education, health and hospitals."
The report suggested that the need for correctional officers is higher in corrupt places because "the overall extent of corruption will be higher in states with higher numbers of convictions of public officials". Very interesting...

1. The 10 most-corrupt states in the USA have need revealed in a joint study by the University of Hong Kong and Indiana University, with the list lead by Mississippi.
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2. The most corrupt states in the U.S.
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© Viralspell.com
3. The least corrupt states in the U.S.
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© Viralspell.com
4. In a hard-fought race, Mississippi beat out Louisiana to claim the top spot as the nations most corrupt state.
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© Wikimedia
Sources: Fortune, The Mail Online.